High powered rifles are very popular for both target shooting as well as hunting. There are a number of reasons rifle users desire to absorb recoil while firing a high-powered rifle. For example, rifle users who fire repetitive shots from high-powered rifles are subjected to large impact forces from the butt of the stock of the rifle. These impacts can bruise, fatigue, and often injure the user of the rifle. Rifle recoil absorption is desirable in order to minimize these undesired physical impacts to the user.
Another important reason for the absorption of rifle recoil is to prevent excess movement of the rifle during and after each shot fired from the rifle. Accuracy and precision of the shots fired are diminished if the high-powered rifle is allowed to uncontrollably recoil. Also, if recoil is not suppressed, the user of the rifle has to re-aim the weapon after each shot, reducing the number of shots that can be accurately fired in a given time.
The suppression and absorption of recoil is especially important when adjusting the sighting of a high-powered rifle. It is important to have steady firing conditions when sighting a rifle so that the fired mark on a target can be trusted as a reference for adjusting the sight of the rifle. If a rifle is allowed to uncontrollably recoil, the user may have increased difficulty in setting the sights on his weapon.
In order to solve the problems associated with firing a high powered rifle, rifle recoil absorption systems are commonly known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,758,447 is directed to a recoil absorbing device and method. This rifle recoil system is directed generally to a strap that is attached to the butt of the rifle for absorbing recoil. The device in a preferred embodiment uses a weighted bag resting on a horizontal support surface to absorb recoil. Potential problems with this device include that that strap does not run parallel to a horizontally resting rifle thus apparently the strap does not absorb recoil force at the same angle from which the force is generated. This could potentially lead to the problem of the absorption system not maximizing recoil absorption. Additionally, the weighted bag is not attached to the table; it merely rests on the table and therefore the bag may absorb the full amount of recoil and may not transfer recoil force to the table. Furthermore, the device does not appear to provide for a kick back absorption mechanism, where in kick back is generally considered to be the force generated when the rifle is fired that generally forces the rifle up away from the barrel rest.
Another example of a recoil reduction system amongst multiple examples is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,811,720. In this system the device is also mountable to a horizontal surface. The system involves a strap attached to the system as well as to the butt of the rifle such that when the rifle is fired the rifle recoil force is distributed to the recoil reduction device. The structure houses a series of rubber balls in a compression mechanism such that when the rifle is fired, the recoil energy is generally absorbed through the strap attached to the butt of the rifle and transferred to the rubber balls. A potential problem with this device is that the device itself is relatively large and potentially cumbersome to transport. Additionally, this device does not appear to be easily attached and removed from the shooting surface as it appears large and bulky.
Accordingly an object of the invention is to provide a rifle recoil absorption mechanism to absorb when a rifle is fired.
Another object of the invention is to provide a rifle recoil absorption system that is mountable on a variety of surfaces.
A further object of the invention is to provide a recoil absorption system that also absorbs kick back forces generated when a rifle is fired.
Another object of the invention is to provide a system wherein recoil is absorbed to minimize the amount of rifle movement when a rifle is fired to facilitate a user firing multiple rounds within a short amount of time.
These and other objects will become clear to those having ordinary skill in the art upon viewing the invention as a whole.